Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Mommy's new pet peeve

DIAPERS


I was a chunky baby. And as I have grown from child to woman, I have had my thin and not-so-thin phases only to finally settle into my body as a very curvy and "healthy" me.
Sure, I wear a size 14, but I work out regularly and try to eat right.
While I might be ok with the hips and the thighs now, it wasn't always so easy. I remember so many times being made to feel like I was fat (when it was far from the truth) from innocent family comments about how I was "so big" for my age and "so big" compared to my sisters and so on and so forth.
Keep in mind that I hit 5'1'' at the tender age of 8 and was my adult height of 5'6'' by age 13. And coming from a family of short Mexican women who average 5 feet, I always felt out of place, anyway.
I know now that my well-meaning aunts meant I was tall when they said "big", but as an impressionable child, I wasn't adept enough to get past the inital sting of the comments. Body image issues and a long battle with bulimia were the result.
Fast forward to mommyhood and Buttercup's above average length of 28.5 inches and very average weight of 20 pounds. I hear how "big" she is from strangers and family alike on a daily basis. My automatic response? "Yes, she is long for her age, but otherwise perfectly average and totally healthy."
What I want to say in response is something more along the lines of "She's 9 months and growing, you insensitive idiot. How'd you like it if people were constantly commenting on the size of your ass? Wouldn't make for a good day, would it? I didn't think so."
And as for my baby's kissable baby thighs? The pediatrician had no problem with them...and neither do I.
Thank you very much.


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